Jennifer Starr

Wine and Cheese: Girls Night!!!

After celebrating my birthday with Justin I had to get together a few of my best girlfriends to ring in turing 29 in style! Julie, Jacquie, Addie, Me, Kimmy ( not pictured my cousin Bri ~ who showed up a little later) all came over to my place for a night of champagne, cheeses, wine, strawberries, chocolates and tons of inappropriate girl talk!!! So much fun, I love my friends so much ~ I have a feeling this is going to be an amazing year!!! Thanks girls for the vino and shared secrets ~let's do it again soon xoxoxo

The last Twenty Something Birthday.....

I think my birthday this year was one of the best birthdays I've ever had! It was such a fun, relaxing, and meaningful day with Justin and the little weenies. I was surprisingly awoken by Sammy and Olive jumping on the bed wrapped in pink streamers, it was as if they really knew they were suppose to make the morning extra special. So stinkin cute......................

Followed by more birthday surprises.....

and a table full of gifts.... I felt so spoiled.........

and an amazing breakfast made by my talented husband, complete with mimosas

I'm thinking most normal people probably wouldn't be as excited about the following activities as I was but none~the~less, I was way excited about the "surprise" plans for the day.

The pups had given me Christmas outfits for them to wear in their upcoming photo shoot. We figured we would put all of our expensive photo equipment to work and do a photo shoot for our

Christmas card.

Olive was a little unsure about all this craziness.....

Sammy on the other hand, was an old pro.........(It also helps that every time I try and dress her in anything she completely freezes up, as if she can't move a muscle at all)

Much coaching was needed for our little models....and then we had to bring out the "treats" to inspire some more shots.....

Overall... I'd say they did pretty darn good.... my little models......

This photo makes me laugh so hard, anyone who know Olive well....knows that she's ......" a little different", so this photo kind of explains it all.

Our indoor shoot was followed by an outside photo shoot ~it was soooo cold that day and the wind was blowing. As you can imagine it's a little challenging to do a photo shoot of two people when one is the photographer ~ lots of holding poses, and wait right there, and hurry up and run, and don't laugh... we had fun though and Justin pulled it off ( he's so talented)

And the finished product:

This was a tri-fold card designed by Justin, and here are those images again a little larger:)

Thank you Justin for making my 29th Birthday so special ~ how in the world did I end up with someone as cheeseball as me, I love you xoxox

And Merry Christmas to everyone that didn't receive one of these silly Christmas Cards xoxox

Thanksgiving 2009

So Much to be Thankful for this Year......

Thanksgiving PART ONE:

We celebrated Thanksgiving down in Casa Grande at my Mom and Dad's house. It was a true "homecoming" for my mom and dad because for the first time in 29 Years their home has been childless for the past six months (since Chase started college)....so I think they were a little extra excited to have their kids home for Turkey Day.

I got to spend some time with my little brother ~ for the first time I'm slowly starting to feel like we're "kind of" the same age ( it's getting harder to believe that we're 10 Years apart)... finally my little stinkerbell is growing up ~ or maybe I'm getting less mature.

My mom makes wonderful meals and has always made the holidays so special. I'm quite certain she is the number one reason I'm an event planner ~ since I was born mom's been making life's events extra special. Next year I might (and I said might) take on the task of preparing the Thanksgiving meal. We hosted Thanksgiving at our home the first year we were married... and haven't done it since. Mainly because our little condo can only accommodate so many guests.

How darling is the photo? This is my little Granny and I adore her. She used to make AMAZING Thanksgiving meals.... complete with her southern touches, I'm hoping she'll prepare another Thanksgiving meal for us in the near future ~ maybe I can talk her into helping next year.

We brought the cheese tray.... this is one of Justin's creations... he's really talented in the kitchen... which is the reason I've stayed out of that room for the past six years... but I'm determined to wiggle my way back in this year!!

My lovely Grandma Jane! I love hearing her holiday stories about her seven children and all the fun they had together... just amazing!!

The Morris crew: Granny, Mom, and Uncle Gene

I'm very thankful for my loving husband.....

Grandpa Jim!! Is such the perfect Grandpa....full of laughs, jokes, and great stories. My Grandpa is truly an inspiration... he's always happy and laughing.

The Norris crew survived another Thanksgiving.

*********************************************************************************

Thanksgiving: PART TWO

We celebrated a second Thanksgiving at Justin's mom's home on Saturday night! We always have a fun and relaxing time at the Starr home.

Our first Thanksgiving with our little Olive! And boy was she trouble. This photo cracks me up, this is our little girl on the couch eyeballing the Turkey... had we not moved the turkey in time I'm sure she would have jumped right on top of the bird.

Justin's brother Shannon ~ a little camera shy....

Justin and his sweet mom relaxing after the big feast ...

Justin is a HUGE dog lover, I mean HUGE. I love my dogs but I only "kind of like" other dogs. I can now see why Justin is the way he is about animals....his mom is HUGE dog lover too!!

RENT

I really have the coolest cousin ever! Bri auditioned and was selected to join the cast of RENT! Justin and I had the oppportunity see her performance and she was amazing!! I had never sent RENT before, but I had always wanted to. And wow, I was really surprised and totally impressed!!!!

Dianna's Birthday Celebration!!

My friend Dianna turned the big 40 ~

so a celebration was in order!

So they rented a party bus and we hit the town...

First stop was Cadillac Ranch at Tempe Market Place

Dianna and Juan Carlos

Renata takes her turn riding the bull

Random head shot of me

We created a "dare" task list for Dianna to complete

Ben, Brian, and Juan Carlos

Me and Dianna, Happy Birthday D! You're fabulous!!!

Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime...

Such a fun night! One of Justin's classmates gave him tickets to see Phantom of the Opera at Gammage. It was such a relaxing evening and soo nice to do something chill and easy going just the two of us after 2 months of pure chaos.

This was my third time seeing "The Phantom" ~ all three times at Gammage. I just love it, each time I see it I feel like I understand the meaning a little more. Next time, I want to see it in Vegas at the Venetian ~ I hear the special effects are just unbelievable.

Social Grace Studios: Axelson Shoot

Axelson Sisters strike a pose. Justin goes to school with Krysten (in the middle) and she wanted to capture some images of her and her sisters to give to their parents for Christmas. I think the shoot the turned out so cute, all the images were taken at Chase Fields ~ because their dad is a huge dback fan!!